When Disaster Strikes...

 With the amount of disaster's you see in the news each day, it's important to know what you need in the case that you ever find yourself in the midst of an unfortunate event. Being in the insurance industry, our objective is to keep you informed. When I stumbled across this article, I wanted to share it -- in hopes that you and your families will be prepared if disaster strikes. See a portion of the article below.

When fire roared through Adelaide Zindler's San Diego neighborhood in the middle of the night, her first thought was to alert an elderly neighbor. The last thing on her mind was the whereabouts of financial records stored in her home.

"I was thinking family and I was thinking friends and I was thinking safety," Zindler says. 

Uprooted from home for days, and unsure where other relatives were, she and her husband needed a month or two "before we got to a place where we were thinking about paperwork again," she says. 

By that point, they were late on their mortgage payment. The financial institution was unforgiving, and the couple's credit score took a hit. 

But it doesn't have to be that way.

What you need:

• Mortgage documents or rental agreements.
• Homeowners, renters and automobile insurance policies.
• Financial statements and account numbers.
• Copies of prescriptions for medications.
• Tax records.

Freedman also suggests having a small stash of cash at hand. If the electricity is out, credit cards won't work for purchases. 

Donna Childs, a former reinsurance industry executive, was living within sight of the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed Sept. 11, 2001. Hers was the only residential neighborhood evacuated, and she was kept out of her home for a couple of months. 

Because of her business background, Childs already had all her personal and business documents scanned in and stored online remotely when she had to flee with just an overnight bag. 

At a time like that, "you shouldn't be thinking about documents, you should be thinking about safety," says Childs, who later wrote the book "Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Small Businesses." 

Neither Freedman nor Childs are fans of using bank safety-deposit boxes to store key documents. They suggest that a bank could be destroyed or inaccessible after a disaster. 

Instead, Freedman uses a portable hard drive with his computer so he can grab it and go. 

"It's one of the best insurance policies you'll ever have," he says. 

Childs prefers remote online storage, and recommends sharing the password with a trusted family member or friend who can access the account in case of an emergency. 

Some banks now offer online safety-deposit boxes that can protect documents, photos and videos.

The key is advanced preparation. By doing so, "there's lots of peace of mind," Childs says. "That's really priceless." 

Published May 13, 2010

| Bankrate.com